Rev. Tom Berlin

It has been a pleasure to work with James D. Klote and Associates. It is essential that stewardship consultants truly understand the theology of biblical stewardship if they are to work in a church that is interested in stewardship rather than capital stewardship. Jim and his team understand the biblical calling to cheerful giving as well as God’s desire to see us properly steward our resources for the kingdom. I appreciate the way this campaign treats every member of the church as equally important to our success. A visit was requested of every member and equal amounts of time were given to everyone. This enabled all of us share in the joy of Christian stewardship as the campaign progressed.

This was the most thorough stewardship campaign we have ever conducted and the results have been rewarding in many ways. By the time we gathered for our congregational dinner announcing our leadership gifts, we had already raised as much as two other stewardship companies said we had the potential to raise in the entire campaign.

Klote & Associates provide excellent training and support to those who visit members of the church. Those who were recruited to do the visits were initially nervous. Once our consultant trained them and answered questions, they were ready to begin. The consultant took the administrative burden off the pastor and church staff members so that they could focus on their ministry areas while undertaking a comprehensive campaign.

The stewardship consultant who partnered with us at Floris United Methodist Church brought a generous and cheerful spirit that set the tone for our campaign. He was able to both challenge those in our congregation with plentiful resources and appreciate those on fixed incomes. When problems arose, he quickly communicated those to the pastor and campaign chairperson so that they could respond. As a result, we were able to maintain positive morale and a joyful spirit in our church.

I would highly recommend James D. Klote and Associates to any congregation who wants to develop stewards and undertake a capital campaign for their church.

Complimentary book

photo gallery

Recognition

A recent study of over 1,000 churches across the United States who had recently completed capital campaigns revealed that seemingly subtle differences in the ways various churches approached their campaigns yielded startling and significantly different campaign results. The study was conducted in June-July 2010 by Volkart May & Associates, a Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota based marketing and market research firm.

NEWS & EVENTS

Best Capital Campaign Ever

Carmel Lutheran Church kicked off its ‘Hearts Compelled To Share’ capital campaign in record style. As of January 25th just 73 families of the more than 900 in the church had already committed $3.75 million dollars. That total represents not only the best kickoff to a campaign at CLC, it also represents the best campaign in total even though only 8% of the congregation has pledged so far.
The previous best campaign was just four years ago when CLC collected a total of about $3 million in pledges from over 425 donors.

All Things New

"Jim Klote, president of James D. Klote and Associates, a capital stewardship consulting firm based in Fall Church, VA, appears on the big screen during his "All Things New" presentation at this year's Annual Conference session. Klote and Associates will conduct free stewardship education workshops for churches in all 18 districts of the conference this fall.

Participants listen attentively during the church stewardship workshop at Wright's Chapel UMC.The Virginia Conference sponsored series of stewardship workshops in each district is winding down, with two more district gatherings remaining in November.